


How did it End up Like This?

by darktensh17



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Kidnapping, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, M/M, Poe Dameron Hurts So Prettily, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:39:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8155943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darktensh17/pseuds/darktensh17
Summary: After the massacre at the Jedi Temple, Kylo Ren goes to get the one person he'd never leave behind; whether Poe wants to or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For TFA KINK:
> 
> "After the massacre of Skywalker's students Kylo Ren comes looking for his childhood sweetheart Poe Dameron, just like he promised he would, intending to take Poe with him as he joins the First Order.
> 
> Poe, who has just joined the New Republic Starfleet to follow in his mother's footsteps, doesn't want to go with him but he is either not given a choice in the matter (Kylo drags him away by force, with help from the Knights of Ren) or he follows Ben willingly in hope he would eventually be able to make him see reason and lure him away from the First Order because he still loves him (but that doesn't work out as planned).
> 
> Of course, the more Poe resists to convert to the ways of the dark side the worse Kylo treats him…"

“Poe, wake up.”

Poe twitches in his sleep; it’s been a long day of training and he just wants to get some rest. “Go away, Muran.” He tells the voice tiredly, sure that it’s his annoying roommate. “I’m trying to sleep.” 

_Poe, you need to wake up._

There’s a tugging at his senses and Poe can’t fight the call, his eyes snapping open as he sits up to throw his pillow in Muran’s irritating face. “I said leave me alone!”

His pillow flies through the air and hits nothing. Flabbergasted, Poe looks around; he’s completely alone in his shared room. He was so certain though . . . 

_Come to me Poe, it’s time I kept my promise._

The call comes again and this time Poe realizes that the voice is in his mind, feeling intimately familiar. “Ben?” 

_I’m waiting for you, Poe._

Well there isn’t much to be done but go see what his boyfriend wants; although how he got to Hosnian Prime to begin with Poe isn’t sure. Ben was supposed to be training on Yavin IV with his uncle and the other Jedi padawans. Then again, when Ben set his mind to something he usually accomplished it.

“Alright, alright, just give me a moment.” Poe said aloud, thinking the words as well. Grumbling quietly to himself he dresses quickly; the nights are starting to get cold and Poe is a warm blooded creature by nature. Maybe Ben will wrap him up in his arms and cuddle him while he tells Poe why he came.

Poe doesn’t question how he knows where Ben is waiting for him; he’s more than used to strange occurrences surrounding Ben being explained away from the Force. It’s something he’s grown used to over time. 

Ben’s far enough away that Poe has to sneak a speeder out to get there; hopefully he hasn’t alerted anyone on base. Then again, Muran and possibly others aren’t back from their partying yet, so if Poe gets discovered at least he won’t be the only one getting in trouble.

He drives fifteen minutes outside of the Academy’s campus before he feels like he’s in the right place. Stopping the speeder and jumping off it, he tucks it beside a tree and moves forward, trying to sense where Ben may be. 

“Are we playing hide and seek Ben? Cause if we are you know that I always lose.” There’s no reply from Ben and Poe stars to feel a sense of anxiety creeping through him, even though he has no reason to. “Come on Ben, this isn’t funny.”

The sound of a twig snapping has Poe whipping his head to his left and there Ben is, coming out from between a group of trees looking like a black stain in the bright light from the moon. 

Poe knows right away that something is wrong; there are blood stains on Ben’s clothes. 

“Ben!” Hurrying over, he runs his hands over Ben’s body, trying to find any sign of injury, even as his mind races trying to figure out what’s going on. Why is Ben covered in blood, why is he here, did something happen at the temple?

Ben’s large hands envelope Poe’s smaller ones, stopping their frantic movements in a tight grip. Confused, Poe looks up at Ben wide eyed. “B-Ben?”

“It’s alright now, Poe.” Ben’s voice is his usual soft and deep tone, but there’s a darkness to it.

“W-what’s alright?” A little voice inside of Poe is screaming that he doesn’t want to know, something isn’t right. 

Poe’s hands are released so that Ben can frame his face and tilt it up so that they’re looking into each other’s eyes. “Everything.” He says as though it will explain what’s going on. “I’ve made it so that they can’t keep us apart anymore.”

No one has ever tried to keep Ben and Poe apart so Poe is feeling confused, and the only reason they’ve been separated in the recent years is because Ben is still training to be a Jedi, and Poe entered the Academy this year. “Ben, I don’t understand.”

There’s a crazed look in Ben’s eyes as he pulls Poe closer to him. “I promised I would come back for you, and I have. That’s all that matters.” 

“Maybe we should get a hold of your uncle. . .” Poe starts to suggest, feeling very afraid. He isn’t prepared for the way Ben practically snarls and shoves him slightly away.

“No! He’s one of the ones that kept us apart! But I’ve taken care of that and anyone else that was standing in my way.” 

Dread sits heavy in Poe’s stomach, his mind is starting to come to conclusions that he would rather not make: Ben’s words, the blood on his clothes, it can’t be true! “Ben. . . what did you do!?”

Ben stares down at Poe with such madness. “I killed them all, Poe, every last one of Skywalker’s pupils, and ran the last Jedi off. But don’t worry; I’ll get him as well soon enough.”

Poe feels like he’s going to be sick as he backs away from Ben. “No. . . y-you couldn’t. . .” He can’t wrap his head around what he’s just heard. “B-Ben why?”

The expression on Ben’s face darkens as he takes slow, measured steps toward Poe even as Poe moves further away. “They were holding me back, limiting my potential and keeping us apart. I’ve found a teacher that can bring out my powers in full and he has agreed to allow me to take you with me. Come with me, Poe.” 

“B-Ben. . .” Poe’s shaking his head in denial, no longer able to form words as he’s backed into a tree. 

The anger in Ben gets stronger; Poe can feel it in the air, almost taste it. “That is no longer my name, I am now Kylo Ren! You will come with me, Poe, whether you wish to or not. You belong to me.” Ben raises his hand and it’s the last thing Poe sees before everything suddenly goes black.

-

Poe wakes up slowly with a pounding head, wondering just what he’d been drinking the night before to make him feel like this. It takes him longer to realize that he hadn’t been drinking, and then to remember what happened. That’s when he registers the hand stroking his hair tenderly. 

Feeling afraid, he opens his eyes to the sight of Ben staring down at him intensely. “Ben. . .” Poe feels relief for all of a few seconds before what Ben had done comes back to him. Desperately, he tries to jerk away from Ben’s hand only to realize he’s been tied down to the bed he is laying on. “What. . ?”

“I’m sorry darling, I couldn’t allow you to try to run or hurt yourself before we got to our new home.”

Dread fills Poe. “Our new home?”

Ben nods, looking pleased with Poe’s question. “Yes, with the First Order. First though, we’re going to go to my new Master so that I may begin my training. Don’t you worry darling you’ll be safe there and you won’t have to worry about anything but being with me.” 

It doesn’t seem to occur to Ben that this isn’t that something Poe wants. “I don’t want to be part of the First Order, Ben! It’s not too late; we can turn around and go home right now, I’m sure everyone will forgive you if we explain what happened.”

Poe’s head is ringing suddenly from how hard Ben hits him. “There will be no going back Poe. You will accept our new home, willingly or not, because I am never letting you go.” The ship’s proximity alarm goes off and Ben stands. “You will call me Kylo from now on Poe; Ben Organa-Solo is dead.”

It takes everything Poe has not to call out after Ben, wanting to tell him that this is all wrong, and try to convince him that they can still go back. Instead, he tries to hold out hope that someone will find them, or that Ben will change his mind after he meets his supposed new master. Surely once he sees the evil of the First Order that will be enough to change his mind.

When the ship docks, stormtroopers come onboard and grab Poe, shoving him into cuffs and pulling him to his feet. Ben stands to the side and does nothing to help him. Instead he looks at the troopers and tells them to take Poe to their room and to guard the door to prevent escape.

The troopers take it one further, uncuffing Poe then putting a chain around his right ankle which is attached to a post that’s been installed close to the bedroom. The chain restricts his access greatly; he can reach the refresher, bedroom and part of the living room and nothing else. He can’t help but wonder if Ben had this all planned out. 

His mind shies away from that thought as Poe enters the bedroom and curls up on the bed. Even though he was unconscious for who knows how long, he’s still incredibly tired, the despair he’s feeling probably doesn’t help. Closing his eyes, he wishes he had the Force so that he could reach out and call for help, but who would hear him? Instead, he tries not to cry and he sinks into a restless sleep.

_“One day I’m going to be the greatest Jedi in history and you’re going to be the best pilot in the Galaxy,” Ben states proudly as the two sit side by side in the Force tree behind Poe’s house. “Then we’ll go off on adventures together.”_

_Poe grins widely at his best friend’s proclamation. “Of course we will Benny; we’re going to known throughout the Galaxy, saving damsels in distress and liberating planets from evil dickheads.”_

_Ben scowls and makes a face at Poe’s words. “No girls, they’re gross.”_

_“You’ll grow to like them eventually Benny, and one day you’ll find a princess that you’ll want to marry, maybe. Well, if your Uncle doesn’t push that entire celibacy thing.”_

_Shaking his head, Ben grabs Poe’s hand and looks at him intently. He’s fourteen and Poe’s seventeen and they’re the best of friends. “There’s only one person in the world I’m ever going to want to marry, Poe.”_

_Poe has a feeling he knows where this is going, feels his heart clenching in his chest with the feelings he’s never dared to acknowledge. “O-oh? And who’s that?”_

_“It’s you, Poe. That’s why I’m never going to leave you behind, because one day I’m going to marry you.” Ben’s entirely serious and intense about this declaration and Poe finds himself swallowing nervously. “I love you, Poe.”_

_“I love you too, Ben; I have for a long time.” Maybe it’s wrong, but Poe can’t deny it, not in the face of Ben’s own admission._

_Ben surges forward then, pressing his lips against Poe’s. It’s their first kiss and while it isn’t perfect, there’s something so precious about it that will make it Poe’s favourite kiss of all times, even in the face of all the hundreds of kisses that follow._

Poe’s jerked from sleep at the sound of a door opening and slamming shut. For a moment he forgets where he is and is about to yell at Muran for being too loud. The second he moves his leg and feels the rattle of the chain attached to it he remember what’s happened. Sitting up quickly, he watches as Ben stalks into the room, anger radiating off him in waves.

Before Poe can even get a word out, Ben grabs him by his arms and pulls him forward. “Do not think about him anymore!” Poe’s confused about what Ben’s talking about and wants to ask what’s going on but Ben is shaking him harshly. “Ben Organa-Solo is dead, forget him. There is only Kylo Ren now.” 

“B-Ben. . .” The comment earns him a harsh slap that sends him falling back on to the bed as Ben releases him.

“You will call me Kylo Ren.” He’s climbing on the bed beside Poe now, turning him over and pinning him down. “If telling you is not enough then I will erase every touch that Ben Organa-Solo has left on your skin and replace it with my own.” 

The words are ominous and their meaning becomes clear quickly as Ben begins to rip at Poe’s clothes. Desperately, Poe tries to fight back, scratching and pushing at Ben’s chest, terror welling up in his own. It doesn’t stop Ben, he’s always been broader and stronger than Poe and with the power of the Force he easily pins Poe down. 

Ben takes his time after Poe’s been restrained; touching Poe with hands that are on the softer side of too hard. It’s not Ben’s touch, which had been feather light and teasing, running down Poe’s skin reverently as if Ben couldn’t believe he was allowed to touch Poe. These new touches, Kylo Ren’s touches are possessive and claiming, as is every mark that he leaves on Poe with his hands and mouth. 

The Force is keeping Poe from speaking; the only sounds able to escape him are quiet cries and moans. Kylo’s touch is too much but also so familiar and when he opens Poe up with just the slightest bit of pain, Poe finds his body reacting positively to the stimulation, and before long he’s hard and leaking. 

When Kylo pushes into him even as Poe’s mind screams in denial about what’s happening, his body opens up to Kylo willingly and is flooded with pleasure. The pace that Kylo sets is hurried, nothing like Ben’s gentle lovemaking, but it draws so much pleasure out of Poe’s body that when Poe comes he sees white. 

It isn’t until after, when the Force hold is released, that he’s able to curl up into a ball of misery and sobs. Kylo rubs his back and makes soothing noises. “Don’t worry darling, you’ll get used to it eventually. The sooner you accept all of this the sooner it will get better for you.” 

Kylo’s words cut through to Poe’s soul because it’s not something Ben would ever say to him. Poe makes a promise to himself that he’s going to get out of here one day, and when he does he’s going to bring Ben back with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part 2!

Poe shouldn’t be surprised to realize that Kylo Ren lied to him; it doesn’t get easier. In the three years that they had been on the planet Kylo’s Master resided on, things had gotten much worse for Poe. As he wouldn’t accept his new life in the First Order, Kylo often beat him as punishment, sometimes he even starved him. The rape isn’t so much a punishment, if only because in Kylo’s mind what he does to Poe is a natural part of what Kylo considers their relationship.

Sometimes Poe despairs that there’s nothing left of Ben within Kylo. There are some nights Kylo wakes up crying and calling for his mother, or father; on those nights he sobs into Poe’s chest and pleads for forgiveness. Poe holds him close and promises he’ll always forgive him and that they can go home at anytime. 

By morning Kylo is always back to normal and angrier than before. Those beatings are the worst and sometimes Poe wonders if it’s a ruse by Kylo to trick him, but realizes that they likely are Ben really coming through; Kylo is only ever that angry when he’s losing to the Light. 

Hope in bringing Ben back to the Light doesn’t stop Poe from trying to escape. Within the first month he figured out how to pick the lock on his chain and made it to the hanger before he was apprehended. 

His escape attempts net him worse injuries every time; at one point Kylo even snaps one of the bones in his left arm almost clean in half. The Citadel has rudimentary health facilities and while Poe is given bacta to help treat the wound and basic care to ensure the bone sets properly, he spends a month in a cast to ensure the wound doesn’t get worse. The only good thing that comes from the experience is that Kylo is almost gentle with him when he rapes him, careful not to jar his arm too much.

It hurts that these small ‘kindnesses’ make the hell Poe is living slightly less horrible. And how sad is that? He wonders bitterly to himself as he sits curled up on his and Kylo’s bed. 

_This is what you’ve been reduced to. Poe Dameron, child of heroes, nothing more than a punching bag and whore to a wannabe Sith Lord._ The thoughts bring bitter tears to his eyes and he tries hard not to let them fall, he has to be strong. Distantly, he wonders if anyone is looking for them. They must know what Kylo did. . . do they think that Poe went with him willingly or do they know he’s been taken and are trying to find him? 

He thinks of his father, alone now on Yavin IV without his wife or his son. It’s that thought that does make the tears fall and for the next hour Poe cries as he calls for his father, his mother, even Auntie Leia and Uncle Han . . . just anybody, to come take him away from here.

Even the crushing weight of his sorrow doesn’t make him give up. There are four other escape attempts in the three years that they’re at the Citadel, and one more just before they move to the Finalizer. 

It’s this last attempt that prompts Kylo to have a tracking device surgically inserted under the skin of Poe’s shoulder almost as they are onboard the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer. Poe had stared in horror at the sight of the ship, dread settling in the pit of his stomach when he realizes just how much this shows that Leia was right about the threat the remains of the Empire posed. If only he could send her a message to tell her how right she was.

They’re met by General Hux as soon as they leave Kylo’s ship, and Poe doesn’t like the look of the young general at all. It’s not that he’s cold; Poe’s dealt with plenty of that in the last few years, but there’s something fanatical about him as he speaks to Kylo about the ship and the First Order. It bodes ill for the future of the New Republic if people like Hux are at the helm.

Hux barely pays attention to Poe as he talks to Kylo, and soon enough they’re in their new rooms, much larger and nicer than what they’d had on the Citadel. Unfortunately, the rooms are located deep within the heart of the Finalizer and Poe isn’t sure that he remembers the path they took to get from the hanger to here. He has a feeling he’ll have the next few years to figure it out. 

With the tracking device in place, and the amount of stormtroopers, real honest to Maker stormtroopers patrolling the decks, Poe is allowed slightly more freedom. This means only that he is allowed out of the rooms under escort and only to certain places such as the training rooms, one of the observation decks, and he can take himself to the medbay when required. 

Kylo is apparently too busy now hunting down his uncle to bother taking care of Poe after he’s beaten him. At least the facilities onboard the Finalizer are up to date and Poe doesn’t have to wait months to heal properly.

Living on a ship, even one as large as the Finalizer, is a horrible experience for Poe, who grew up amongst the lush forests of Yavin IV. He can taste the stale, recycled air, and the walls sometimes threaten to close around him. In truth he wants nothing more than to escape but he can’t, not yet anyway. First he needs to learn everything he can about this ship, General Hux and the First Order’s plans. More than once he’s heard the officers on board talking about something called Starkiller Base; Poe is determined to find out what it is and when he finally does make his escape, he’s going to bring every scrap of information he can find back with him so that he can help take down the First Order and Supreme Leader Snoke.

If he has to leave Ben behind then so be it, this is bigger than the love they once shared between them. 

So Poe endures for another three years the verbal abuse, the beatings, the rape; uses every mark left on his mind, body, heart and soul as a reminder to the vow he’s made to himself to keep on fighting. 

He doesn’t flinch when Kylo threatens to have his tongue removed for talking back, or how he uses the Force to strangle Poe to the edge of unconsciousness. With every new way Kylo finds to torture him, Poe uses it as fuel to the fire burning inside his soul, making him more determined than ever to succeed. 

-

One night, three years after they’d come to the Finalizer and six years after Kylo kidnapped Poe, everything comes crashing down and Poe finally gets the break he needs.

Poe fights back a flinch when he hears the door to their rooms swish open as Kylo enters, usually he just ignores the man but today he can feel the rage radiating off of him. He barely has time to set down the holobook before Kylo sweeps into the room and he finds himself frozen in place. 

“W-welcome home darling.” Poe says, hoping that the greeting will placate Kylo; it’s something Poe has taken to doing over the last year to pacify Kylo’s fits of rage about Poe’s lack of acceptance of their current lives. Today the comment only earns him a harsh slap, hard enough to cause his head to ring and his body to twist violently even with the Force hold Kylo has on him.

“Keep your mouth shut you traitor!” Poe doesn’t understand what Kylo’s talking about, he’s not a traitor, or at least he hasn’t done anything outward to be branded such. 

He wants to ask what Kylo’s talking about but Kylo seems to be angry enough to rant about it anyway. “Years we’ve been able to keep under the radar of Leia Organa-Solo and the Resistance and now some pilot shows up on Jakku, incidentally where the missing piece to the map to Skywalker is located, and he has the nerve to ask about you!” 

Poe feels his heart in his throat at Kylo’s words. Someone asking about him? Someone in the Resistance knows him? He wants to ask who it is but Kylo is using the Force to keep him silent. 

“It’s no matter; once we have the information we need he’ll be given a highly public execution in order to dampen the Resistance’s spirit.” Kylo comes over and takes Poe’s face in his hand. “I won’t let them take you from me,” he promises, before viciously attacking Poe’s mouth in a grotesque parody of a kiss. 

Kylo pushes Poe down onto the bed and Poe can do nothing to stop him, frozen as he is. Tonight is more frightening than anything Kylo has ever done to him. Even as Poe is unable to move, Kylo undoes his clothing with almost tender care, stripping Poe and positioning him careful down on the bed once he’s naked. 

Tonight he takes his time in preparing Poe, touching him in all the places that Ben used to. Every time Poe lets out a small whine as his body reacts in pleasure, Kylo takes it as encouragement. Soon Poe is hard and leaking but still terrified because he can’t do anything more than breath and blink.

When he pushes in to Poe it’s so gentle that it brings tears to Poe’s eyes. Kylo sees them and wipes them away tenderly and whispers soothingly, “I know darling, it’s going to be okay though. I promise that I won’t let them take you away from me.” 

Poe doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or sob at the words, not that he can do either. He doesn’t even know why he’s crying; all of a sudden everything just seems to be too much. 

Kylo continues to speak soothingly as he makes love to Poe’s body. Poe is just a prisoner along for the ride. When Kylo brings him off, the sensation feels so distant from Poe’s mind, almost as though it’s happing to someone else. Afterward, Kylo kisses him, cleans him up, and leaves. 

Just like that, it’s over and Poe can move again. For the longest time all he does is cry, and then he searches for something sharp.

-

The less Poe thinks about the process of removing the tracker from shoulder the better; the job was messy and painful, and Poe almost passed out several times before the small chip fell to the ground with a ping. He’d quickly run a bath to both clean the wound and set the tracker in the water to trick the heat reader as long as he could. A few bacta patches from the medkit in the room are enough to keep the wound dealt with for now. 

He tucks the datachip from his datapad into the wound itself; he knows it may not be wise but with the bacta covering it, he knows it’s less likely that he’ll lose it, or in the off chance that he doesn’t succeed that they’ll find it there, if they take him back alive. Poe has no plans on returning to the Finalizer, no matter what it may take.

Poe has enough trust now that he’s able to wander around the Finalizer without much supervision. There’s a lone stormtrooper accompanying him to the exercise rooms. Knowing what he now does about the lives of stormtroopers and where they come from, Poe feels incredibly bad when he knocks the trooper out with a heavy blow to the head from one of the heaviest weights in the room. He doesn’t have time to feel bad as he strips the trooper of his armour and dons it himself before tying the man up.

Making it down to the cell blocks is trickier but Poe somehow manages, and he locates the cell the Resistance prisoner is in. He easily tells the troopers guarding the cell that General Hux wants the prisoner.

Nervously, he waits until they leave before entering the cell and is shocked at the man who is strapped to the chair in the center of the room. “Muran. . .” Poe steps forward, reaching out disbelievingly at the sight of his former Academy roommate. 

The man opens up unfocused eyes and stares at Poe with disdain. It takes Poe a moment to remember the stormtrooper helmet and he rips it off quickly, watching as Muran’s eyes widen in recognition. “P-Poe. . . oh Maker, you’re alive.” 

There isn’t time to catch up; Poe knows that soon either Kylo will discover that Poe is missing or someone will realize that he lied about Hux wanting Muran. “We need to get you out of here.” Poe quickly undoes the release for the chair and catches Muran before he falls. “Can you walk?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Good, I think I know where one of the hangers is; if we can get there we can grab a ship and get out of here.” Poe throws one of Muran’s hands around his shoulders and turns to exit the room when the door opens and a single stormtrooper enters. 

For a moment everyone in the room goes still.

It’s the trooper that breaks the silence, “What are you doing?” He sounds more confused that threatening, which surprised Poe.

“Prisoner transfer,” Poe says hastily. 

Poe wonders if the ruse will work when the trooper says nothing at first, his heart falls when the man speaks again. “A stormtrooper never removes their mask.” His words are calm and he doesn’t go for his gun, which is promising. “Especially not when they’re trying to keep their identity hidden from people who may know their face.” 

“Look. . . I don’t want to have to kill you. . .” Poe says, hoping that false bravado will see him through this; he has a blaster, but, much like the trooper, he hasn’t reached for it. “Just let us go and there won’t be any trouble.”

The trooper laughs and reaches up to remove his helmet. “I don’t want to cause any trouble, I’m here for the same reasons you are; to free the prisoner and escape the Finalizer. This might be easier and more likely to succeed with two of us and I know my way around. Can you pilot a TIE fighter?”

Muran is mostly silent beside him but Poe can feel the tenseness leaving his body in a way that means he seems to trust what this man is saying. Poe looks over at him before turning back to the trooper. It’s been years since he’s flown anything but a simulator, but he feels confident when he says, “I can fly anything.” He feels his confidence growing as he shares a grin with Muran and then the trooper. “We’re gunna do this.” 

“. . .Yeah?” The trooper asks, uncertain but hopeful, and Poe feels that same hope as he sets Muran down carefully so that he can place the helmet on his head once again.

Everything passes in a rush of excitement after that; getting to the hanger, getting into a TIE fighter, which is a little cramped with three people, and making their escape (which goes much less gracefully than Poe would have liked). When the Finalizer’s weapons are turned on to them and the ventral cannons fire, Poe wonders if Kylo knows that Poe is the one flying the TIE. 

He doesn’t dwell on it though as he tries to manoeuvre them away from the Finalizer and avoid the missiles. The newly named Finn, because Poe cannot abide calling him by his stormtrooper designation, takes out one of the missiles. During all this Muran explains how they have to get back to Jakku to get a droid. The way he speaks about the droid pulls at something in Poe, orange and white. . . 

When they get hit it takes all the piloting skills Poe has to try and slow their descent enough that they don’t crash badly. He isn’t even aware of Muran pushing the eject button on Finn’s seat until he sees the top of the TIE fly open and the chair eject once they’re within the planet’s atmosphere. It isn’t long before his own seat is ejected and he finds himself screaming Muran’s name as he’s jettisoned out of the TIE, only to watch it explode moments later before it even hits the ground.

It’s not long after that Poe blacks out. He doesn’t even feel himself crash land on the ground.

-

There’s someone shaking him desperately, even though Poe’s body is on fire and a mess of pain. His shoulder where he tore out the tracker is causing him the most agony. Desperately, he reaches up and tries to push whoever is touching him away, thinking that it must be Kylo come to punish him for his attempt at escaping. 

“Poe please wake up! We can’t stay here or the First Order will find us!” That isn’t Kylo’s voice, opening his eyes with great difficulty Poe finds himself looking into the frightened face of Finn. “Come on, Poe!” Before Poe can say anything Finn is already helping him up and dragging him away from where Poe landed.

Around them Poe can see the broken and burning bits of the TIE fighter wreckage, and it takes great effort to push away the sorrow of Muran’s death. Seeing his old roommate and friend again for such a short time and then losing him hurts so much. Poe knows he doesn’t have time to grieve though, he can save that for when they’re safe.

“We need to find the droid Muran was talking about and get it to the Resistance.” Poe needs to get to the Resistance as well; he has so much that he needs to tell them and part of him hopes that maybe Leia is still in charge, not that he’d know what to say to her if he ever saw her again. Finn agrees with him about the droid, though neither has any idea where to look. Instead, they wander over the sand dunes, looking for any sign of the droid, the First Order, or hopefully civilization. By the time they find the latter of the three, they both exhausted, dehydrated, and in Poe’s case, dangerously light headed from lack of blood. 

What happens after is hard for Poe to wrap his head around. He and Finn have just finished drinking out the most disgusting fountain Poe has ever seen, when a shout of anger draws Finn’s attention toward where an apparent scuffle is taking place under some nearby tents. When Finn gets up to hurry over to the aid of whoever is in trouble, Poe follows and the two of them witness a girl fighting off a group of goons before kneeling and pulling off a net from an orange and white droid.

Poe’s breath catches because he knows this droid, or at least knew them so intimately while he was in the Academy. BB-8’s dome swivels toward where Poe and Finn are standing and they let out a high pitched squeal before racing toward him, almost bowling him over. 

“BB-8. . .” He whispers reverently as he falls to his knees and wraps his arms around the droid. “D-do you remember me?”

BB-8 warbles lovingly at Poe and Poe feels tears fall; all this time Muran had kept Poe’s droid by his side. . . “Buddy. . . M-Muran didn’t make it. . . but we’re going to get you to the Resistance. I’m not going to let Kylo Ren get his hands on you.” While BB-8 does trill mournfully at that, they still express their happiness at Poe’s presence. 

Behind the two of them Poe hears Finn talking to the girl that was accompanying BB-8, and he doesn’t refute Finn’s claim that they’re both with the Resistance. It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not at this moment, because Poe knows that if he does make it to the Resistance base he’s going to join up with them without question. 

They don’t have much time to discuss anything really before Finn is tensing and Poe follows his gaze to two stormtroopers speaking to some of the people in the area. He gets to his feet when they’re pointed at. “We have to go.”

Finn’s grabbing both his and Rey’s hands and they’re suddenly running through the tents. Not long after, the sound of TIEs flying overhead can he heard and they’re running for their lives to escape the gunfire. 

“We can’t outrun them!” Finn shouts as Rey leads them out toward a junkyard, she’s pointing to a parked four engine ship ahead. 

“We might in that quad-jumper!”

Poe’s head is spinning from the exertion of running and he doesn’t add anything to the conversation.

“We need a pilot! Poe can’t fly in his condition!”

Rey gestures to herself, “We’ve got one!” 

Poe feels insulted for Rey when Finn shouts out a surprise,d “You?!” before he’s turning to look at something off to the side. “What about that ship?” 

There’s a snort of derision from Rey and so he doesn’t bother looking at the ship Finn is pointing at. “That one’s garbage!” When the jumper they’re running for is suddenly blown up by TIE fire, she stops and turns. “The garbage’ll do!”

When Poe gets his first look at the supposed ‘garbage’ he’s struck by the familiarity of the Corellian freighter sitting there. He hasn’t seen the Millennium Falcon in years and even though it looks like it’s been left to rust, it’s still as beautiful as he remembers from years spent learning to fly it with Han and Ben years after Poe’s mother had passed away. 

He can’t help Finn with the guns, his head is spinning too much, so he acts as co-pilot to Rey, who does an amazing job flying the ship and escaping the TIEs. Finn is amazing too, but Poe already knew that from when they were making their escape from the Finalizer. 

When the battle’s over and they’re free of Jakku, Poe goes to lie down. More accurately, he passes out in the pilot’s seat and is at some point moved to one of the bedrooms where he proceeds to sleep through the entirety of the excitement that comes next. Hours later he still doesn’t quite believe the story Rey and Finn tell him about the Rathtars.

What he wakes up to is the sound of a Wookiee’s cry and the feeling of something furry wrapping itself around him in a near bone crushing hug.

Opening his eyes brings the second biggest shock of his day as he looks up into the kind but sorrowful eyes of Chewbacca. It doesn’t take him long to realize that where Chewbacca is, Han Solo is nearby, and he’s just struggling to sit up when Han comes into the room.

“Hey Chewie, the kids said that you were back here with their other injured patient, just came to see how you were feeling, pal. We’re going to be stopping by at Maz’s place to find a way to get the to Leia. . .” Han’s voice trails off when he steps around Chewie and gets his first look at Poe. “Kriff. . . holy. . . Poe. . . Poe Dameron?”

Han looks older than Poe remembers, older than he should look for a man of his age, but in some ways he looks completely the same. “Han. . .”

Chewie says something that Poe barely catches and suddenly Han is embracing him, holding him tight in a hug. “Everyone thought you were dead kid, you disappeared not long after. . .” He doesn’t mention Ben or the massacre at the Jedi temple and Poe is glad for it. “Where have you been all this time?” He asks instead after pulling back to look Poe over.

“I’ve been a prisoner of the First Order.” It’s the truth but not all of it. “I’ve only recently managed to escape with Finn’s help. . . I. . . Muran was taken on board the Finalizer but he didn’t make it. . .” 

There’s a look on Han’s face that Poe can read easily; he wants to ask about Ben but doesn’t want to hear the answers that Poe may have to his question. Somehow Poe gets the feeling that Han likely knows about Ben joining the First Order and about Kylo Ren. That’s perhaps part of the reason he doesn’t say anything in that regard and instead claps Poe on his good shoulder. “It’s good to have you back, kid. Let’s get you patched up before we land on Takodana.” 

Neither speaks as Chewie leaves to get the medkit, leaving Han and Poe alone before heading back to the Falcon’s cockpit. Poe wants to ask Han what’s been going on during the last six years, wants to ask about Leia, the Resistance, and most of all about his father. He can’t seem to get the words out and Han doesn’t offer anything of his own.

Poe only hopes that once they get to Takodana he’ll get some answers. What he gets instead is another fight with the First Order, only this time Kylo is on the ground and it’s only by chance that he doesn’t spot Poe when Poe catches him leaving the battlefield. Worse than just the seeing him is the sight of him carrying Rey’s limp body. He doesn’t flinch when Finn shouts after Rey, silently screaming along with him inside.

The fighting is dying down around him and Poe listens with only half an ear as Finn tries to talk to Han about Ren taking Rey. Instead, Poe’s focus is on the X-wings and other ships as they lounge in the area around the battlefield. He wonders if any of them are friends from the Academy, wonders also how many people he knew died when the First Order fired Starkiller Base’s weapon. He knows already that the target was Hosnian Prime and the heart of the New Republic.

It isn’t until Han calls his name softly that he turns away from the ships and stumbles over to stand behind Chewie as a sense of fearful anticipation grips him. Han is staring at one of the transports, watching with baited breath and when Leia Organa-Solo steps off it, Poe feels the world tilt around him. He doesn’t move or say anything as Han and Leia stare at each other, not even when Chewie moves away from him to give Leia a hug. 

Poe stands there quietly watching and it’s only when Han brings up Ben that he makes any sort of noise to betray his presence as a spectator to their reunion. All of a sudden Leia’s eyes are on him and he can feel her shock at the sight of him. 

“Poe. . .” His name is barely a whisper as she steps forward and then her arms are around him and everything from the last few days hits him hard enough to stagger him.

He’s finally free, and for the second time in so many hours he finds himself crying into the arms of someone he thought he’d never see again.


End file.
